


Shadows

by ArcadiosV (Mariannie)



Series: The Archives [1]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28171227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariannie/pseuds/ArcadiosV
Summary: While the commander was busy battling Mordremoth's dragon minion,other Sylvari had much more terrifying things to do.[Contains Living World Season 2 Spoilers]
Series: The Archives [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2063736
Kudos: 1





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Two fics in one day huh.  
> Okay, i've had them on tumblr for a while, but i wanted them all in one place.  
> AND easier to find.
> 
> Meet Rory. And Roise. And Jack :D

Darkness was all he’d known, fear, horror, torment. 

Pain.

Screams, crying, panic.

Everything had been peaceful, quiet- and then… 

Something solid hit him violently. The sound that reached him must’ve been his own. 

Confusion assaulted him on top of everything else. It smelled of death around him. He didn’t know why he knew that, but he knew. 

And when he opened his eyes, more darkness was around him. Screams of others, panicked footsteps, crying. 

And death. 

So much death.

He felt the need to run away, to leave, get somewhere safe. Whatever being safe meant, he didn’t know. He didn’t know anything.

Just away.

Run, just run. 

His body refused to move, to obey his commands. Just a moment ago he had been with the dream- everything was fine- he had been safe.

Why-

Something touched him, light, fleeting. A voice called out. He didn’t understand the words. There was only pain, something muffling everything around him. Why was this happening? Everything had been fine- 

His body was moving then, but not on his command. The hard surface vanished like it had never been there. It was so dark-

\---

She was running through the grove, screaming and panicking sylvari everywhere, so many dead, so many injured. All the crying. The Pale tree- No. Others were with her mother. She had to focus on the injured ones-

The saplings. 

Others had had the same idea and a small group was running towards the pods. 

The fear hit her before she could even see it. One of her friends had stopped short at the sight, but she didn’t look back when she rushed up to the first way too young sapling she had seen.

There was nothing to be done. Whoever they would have become eventually, they were dead now. The next was being tended to, but the horror on the others' faces told her all she needed to know.

She moved on from pod to pod, some hadn’t opened yet. She left them alone. Most were destroyed. 

Some young Sylvari had survived the attack, all in varying states. She didn’t know if they would survive.

Her feet slid across the floor, through fluids she didn't want to think of and mud, leaves and grass and so many other things. One of the others was crouching next to one of the saplings. Blue eyes of an engineer snapped up at her. Someone she had seen in the grove a few times but never spoken to was staring at her, one gloved hand on the shoulder of the downed sapling. 

“He’s alive, we need to get help-”

She fell to her knees next to the sapling, nodded at the other. “They’re on the upper floor- Go!”

The sylvari jumped to his feet, various items on his belt were clinking against each other as he took off, running faster than she had ever seen someone run. She paid him no mind, thoughts only focused on the young one on the ground. He was shaking, hands grasping at something invisible. His face had been damaged, if by the attack or the fall, she didn’t know, nor care.

What was important was that he was alive. The rust-colored foliage on his head was sticky with the fluid from the pod, as was most of his body. The pale bark was shimmering wet, and small noises escaped him.

She tried to calm him, and could sense his distress clearly. Everything that had happened was a blur. Why had the pale tree even been attacked? She knew of the summit, of course, everyone did… was that why the grove had been attacked?

There was this one sylvari that had gotten all the leaders together to talk about what to do about the dragon. She didn’t know much about it. Whatever her wyld hunt would be she didn't know that yet. It didn't matter. She was happy in the grove. 

But why would the dragon attack their home, everything that was important to them-

She had seen him- The commander, the second in command just under Trahearne. She had never exchanged a word with either of them. But now she wished to have a word with this commander. He had caused this, hadn’t he?

Lured this monster into the grove- 

She pressed down on her anger. Now wasn’t the time. The few menders they could spare flocked in with the engineer she had sent off to get them.

It didn’t take long before the poor sapling next to her had been taken away, hopefully to be cared for properly.

She could raise the dead, but she couldn’t prevent death itself. And this one and so many others hadn’t even gotten a chance to experience how beautiful life could be.

The engineer crouched down in front of her, put his hand on her shoulders. She hadn’t even noticed that she was crying until he pulled her into a hug. He was shaking just as much as she was, shaking his head at the horror of it all.

“…Are you okay?” he asked her silently, voice nothing more than a whisper.

She nodded hastily. “…I’m fine, I… yes.”

Slowly he pulled away then, took in the surrounding horror. “...There’s more who need help-”

And she was pulled to her feet, not ready for it all, but willing to push through her own fear to give the injured ones a fighting chance. 

Never again did she want to face such horrors.


End file.
